BOGS, MARSHES AND WET PLACES IN SPRING 125 



a stout plant, varying from six to eighteen inches high, tlie whole 

 generally more or less tinged with purjjle. The flowers are of a 

 dull purple-brown colour, in loose clusters, and bloom from May 

 to July. The sepals, which are longer than the petals, have narrow 

 outer segments, and longer, broad, inner segments with long, 

 sharp points. This species is widely distributed, but is very local 

 in the southern counties of England. 



In shady marshes we 

 may often meet with one 

 or other of the two pretty 

 little Golden Saxifrages 

 (order Saxifragacece), and 

 sometimes the both grow- 

 ing together. One of 

 them — the Common 

 Golden Saxifrage [Chryso- 

 splenium oppositifolium ) , 

 is very abundant, often 

 covering large patches of 

 marsh with its golden 

 leaves and flowers. It is 

 a tender, succulent plant ; 

 with a decumbent stem, 

 either simple, or branched 

 near the toj), and rooting 

 at the base. The leaves 

 are opposite, almost 

 round, about half an inch 



in diameter, with wavy margins, and a few scattered hairs on the 

 upper side. The lower ones are shortly stalked, and the upper 

 generally of a golden colour. The flowers are very small, in 

 little, crowded, terminal clusters, surrounded by the upper leaves. 

 They have a calyx of four spreading sepals ; no petals ; eight 

 stamens joined to the base of the sepals ; and an inferior ovary 

 divided above into two conical lobes. 



The other species is the Alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage 

 {C. alternifolium) — a very similar plant, but generally of a lighter 

 colour, and its leaves are always alternately arranged. Both species 

 have yellow flowers which bloom from April to July ; and both grow 

 to a height of from two to five inches. The latter is much less 

 common than the former, but is very widely distributed. 



The Golden Saxifrage. 



